The Only Consequence That Matters
by 14Cookiesinajar
Summary: The worst part of the Genocide route isn't the pain of killing everyone you've come to love, it's learning just how wrecked you've helped make Sans... It's learning that there is a consequence to everything. There's always been consequences... If Frisk is really Sans' friend... They'll let their actions speak louder than their words... But an apology seems like a good idea too.


Author's Note: I just really enjoy writing people crying and hugging and talking about their feelings.

* * *

"Papyrus?" Sans froze in place, not liking the tone in the kid's voice. Timid and scared. Sans had been going into the kitchen but now he was stuck just by the t.v., something inside him not sure but another part frightened. Because the kid was frightened. Because the kid was _guilty_. His brother seemed completely unaffected.

"YES, HUMAN?" There was silence from the kid. "HUMAN?" There was now the slightest touch of concern in his brother's voice. Sans heard the clink of a pot being put down as Papyrus waited patiently for the kid to speak. The kid wasn't much of a talker to begin with but this seemed different. It seemed tense and entirely frightened. It seemed _guilty_...

"Papyrus... Wh-When we first met, you mentioned that... it felt like you knew me." Sans heard Papyrus take in a breath, like he was going to speak, but instead the kitchen was filled with more silence. Sans risked a peak in, and there they two of them were, with their backs turned towards Sans. The kid's shoulders were too hunched, protecting their neck. Everything about them screamed _guilty_.

And his brother _noticed_... Papyrus was looking down at them, from what Sans could see of the side of his face, he looked more than concerned, he looked absolutely worried. Worried enough to listen intently without comment.

"When you saw me, what did you... What did you feel towards me?" They asked weakly. "Were you... scared?"

"OH NO." Papyrus declared assuredly, almost relieved that he could comfort them as he smiled brightly. "IT WAS LIKE SEEING A FRIEND YOU WERE REALLY WORRIED ABOUT AND SEEING THAT THEY ARE ALRIGHT. I WASN'T SCARED AT ALL! I WAS SUPER HAPPY AND RELIEVED!"

"O-Oh..." The kid's voice was tight, cracking and they were lowering their head. After a few seconds they were lifting their hands to cover their face and Sans watched their shoulders shake as they started to cry. "Papyrus, I... How can you...?" They couldn't finish the thought.

Papyrus had lowered down onto one of his knees and he had placed a hand on their small back and tried to pat them comfortingly. But the kid was too far gone, trying to keep it together but at the same time too far gone. They couldn't accept his comfort.

"You should be scared of me. You should hate me." They cried quickly with short breaths.

"BUT WHY WOULD I? WE ARE FRIENDS!" They broke. They were sobbing. Papyrus tried to wrap his arm around them, tried to pull them into a hug but they pulled back, they twisted towards him, so Sans could see the side of their face.

"I killed you!" They half shouted, half cried at him. Sans was rigid, his body cold and hollowing out as the lights in his eyes died. He'd... He'd suspected, known, that very thing. But to tell his brother... Papyrus' face was wide with surprise, and he was silent for a moment as the kid reburried their face away in their hands.

"HUMAN, I-"

"No!" They sobbed. "I killed you! You were Sparing me! And I murdered you! How can-?!" They were small and fallen in on themself in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by things that were just too big for them; the sink, the counters, Papyrus... They were so small and broken, it was almost hard to believe what they were saying, but they just looked so _guilty_. And Sans had known the truth the moment he had laid eyes on them... Unlike Papyrus, Sans had in fact, felt scared. But Papyrus... Papyrus didn't understand, it was plain on his face that he didn't, but he still wanted to help... He still wanted to comfort them.

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND." He admitted. "BUT EVEN IF THATS TRUE, I'M NOT DEAD NOW. SO... YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO MAKE IT RIGHT. YOU MUST HAVE DECIDED TO DO BETTER." The kid was sobbing even more loudly.

"I... I... I was killing everyone! I killed everyone!" Sans felt an immense amount of dread as his brother pulled the kid into his arms and held them close. They kept their hands over their face but they were resting against his chest as he continued rubbing their back.

"IT'S OKAY NOW. EVERYONE IS ALRIGHT. YOU CAN BE A BETTER PERSON, YOU ALREADY ARE! WE'RE FRIENDS NOW-" There was a sharp noise from the kid and they were shaking. They were shaking their head.

"Friends don't do that!" They cried. And Sans couldn't help but agree...

If the kid had really been their friend, if the kid had really cared...They wouldn't have done that.

They wouldn't have Reset after getting everyone up to the **_surface_**...

"I..." They lowered their hands, no longer hiding, forcing themself to look up at Papyrus. They hesitated but then forced themself to continue. "I thought there were no consequences! I thought I could do anything and it didn't matter! I was... I was just curious... but that's not an excuse!" Their eyes were narrowing and more tears were spilling over their cheeks. "I'm so sorry! Once I was doing it, it was so hard to stop!"

"BUT YOU DID!" Papyrus offered encouragingly. The kid's face was fearful... _Guilty_.

"I only stopped because... Sans..." Sans lifted his head the slightest bit to get a better look at them.

"WHAT ABOUT MY BROTHER?" Papyrus asked.

Sans could guess... If everyone was really gone... If they were on the verge of ending everything... If there wasn't going to be another Reset... He'd probably pounded them into the ground. He'd given them a bad time. He'd probably _forced_ them to Reset... Their apology now was probably just-

"I'm sorry." They whispered in a hushed voice. "I'm so sorry."

But their apology didn't mean anything... They still would have finished it if Sans hadn't-

"I'm hurting you brother so bad." They whispered painfully, the guilt was eminating off of them, as if this statement was harder to admit than admitting they had **_killed_** everyone. Sans had to pause in surprise... "I'm hurting him and I didn't even know... At least... Not like that!" They buried their face in Papyrus' scarf as they continued to cry again. "I wanna stop, I just wanna stop..." They breathed, they sobbed.

Sans felt... Sans wasn't sure what he was feeling. He was definitely surprised, shocked? To apologize for hurting him... To apologize for it aside from apologizing for killing everyone. He could only think of one thing... The Resets themselves. Waking up over and over again in Snowdin not remembering a thing but just knowing things were repeating. Just knowing when things had gone right or when things had gone wrong... How it never ended. How it never mattered. How Sans could afford not to care because if he cared he would go absolutely insane.

"YOU CAN STOP, HUMAN! IF YOU TRULY CARE THEN YOU CAN STOP, I BELIEVE IN YOU. YOU'RE SO STRONG! AND SUCH A GOOD FRIEND, EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU ARE. IF YOU WEREN'T A GOOD FRIEND, YOU WOULDN'T CARE THAT YOU WERE HURTING MY BROTHER... YOU WOULD JUST KEEP DOING IT, BUT YOU DON'T WANT TO, SO.. SO... I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO THE RIGHT THING."

The kid was still crying, and he thought they were still trying to talk but it was muffled by the scarf. They wrapped their arms around Papyrus and squeezed tightly. Sans' eyes were still black as he watch his brother and the kid hug, unaware that he was standing right there just past the corner.

"I'm sorry..." The kid whimpered, barely audible from where Sans stood. Sans let out a soft sigh.

If they really meant it... If they really were friends...

Sans froze again, his eyesockets wide as the familiarity of that thought struck him.

If they really were his friend...

They were right, friends didn't do that sort of thing, but... Papyrus was right too.

They had set everything back, just like Papyrus had said, they had, in the end... chosen to do the right thing. And maybe, just maybe, they would continue to... Maybe... maybe it wouldn't slip through his boney fingers... He'd given up on the surface a long time ago, but... Maybe...

"I'm so sorry..."

God, he so wanted to hope all of the bad times were actually behind them, that it wouldn't just keep repeating and repeating and repeating...

But it _always_ repeated... There was no end. It was just some endless loop... And Sans was stuck in the middle of it. He had once been frustrated that he could never remember anything, because if he could maybe he could change something. Now that he had given up on changing things, it was a Mercy to forget... But each time... Each time he was still afraid. He still watched Papyrus with dread...

For somebody who stayed sane by affording not to care, he still seemed to care about a lot of things...

Sans sighed again as he closed his eyes and stood there against the wall, just out of sight, listening to the human whimper against his brother's chest and the brushing of fabric.

"HUMAN..." Papyrus started up again once they had begun to sniffle weakly. "I MAY NOT UNDERSTAND ALL THAT IS GOING ON, BUT... I MUST ADMIT, I HAVE SEEN THAT MY BROTHER HAS NOT BEEN AT HIS... BEST." Their sniffles were softening and they seemed to be listening intently. Sans was tense against the wall, his teeth gritted together tightly as he waited with renewed dread for his brother to continue. "HE DIDN'T ALWAYS USE TO BE THIS LAZY... HE USED TO PUT A LOT MORE BACKBONE INTO THINGS. NEH HEH... BUT... THEN ONE DAY, SEEMINGLY OUT OF NOWHERE, IT SEEMED LIKE EVERYTHING HAD CHANGED. MY BROTHER... HE SMILES ALL THE TIME, BUT IT'S NOT HOW HE USED TO. HE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE HAPPY. THAT STARTED TO HAPPEN A LONG TIME BEFORE YOU ARRIVED. I'M NOT SAYING THAT YOU ARE PERHAPS COMPLETELY BLAME FREE, IF YOU TRULY FEEL ADAMANT ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS. BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT IT IS NOT ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT. IF ANYTHING, I TOO MUST TAKE SOME OF THE BLAME, FOR I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR HIM TO TALK TO ME BUT THE DAY NEVER SEEMS TO COME." They sniffled again, a bit more loudly and Sans supposed they had lifted their head so it was no longer muffled.

"It's not your fault, Papyrus." They told him urgently, speaking Sans' mind for him.

"NEH HEH..." Papyrus laughed sadly. "BUT I DID NOT HELP EITHER..."

"Of course you do!" They continued. "He loves you! He... He just..." Their voice trailed off into another guilty silence. "He probably has told you..." They whispered finally in realization, half of the sentence suddenly muffled as they leaned against Papyrus.

Sans had a feeling that they were right... He felt sick thinking about it. How he knew once he had tried talking about these things but in the end it never mattered because it never stuck...

"I'm the worse friend ever..." Sans barely caught from them. He could tell that they didn't actually consider themself a friend at all, they were just using that word to keep Papyrus from correcting them again. Sans tended to do the same thing... But apparently Papyrus had noticed all along, he'd just been too good to say anything about it. Sans was an awful brother. He was the worse brother ever...

"HUMAN." Papyrus started sternly. Apparently the trick wasn't going to work for the kid either, but they weren't lucky enough to have Papyrus give them space. "HAVE YOU THOUGHT PERHAPS YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO SAN?" Sans' eyes opened as horror flooded through him. There was stunned silence from the human. The silence went on for too long... Sans chanced peeking back into the kitchen.

The kid's eyes were wide, their body tense with fear and guilt at just the thought, but they couldn't open their mouth to protest it, just- Their eyes narrowed again finally and they looked down at their feet.

"You may not hold it against me that I killed you..." They barely whispered. "But he will never forgive me."

They were right. Sans would never forgive them for hurting Papyrus... Never in a million Resets.

"DOES THAT MAKE THE APOLOGY ANY LESS VALUABLE?" Papyrus asked them. They glanced up nervously. _Guiltily_. "AFTER ALL, I DO NOT REMEMBER A THING BUT I APPRECIATE AND ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY, HUMAN. I FORGIVE YOU!" The human let out a small laugh, not because they thought it was funny, but because they didn't know how else to respond. They rested their forehead against Papyrus and was shaking their head. "HUMAN?" Their arms lifted and they were hugging Papyrus' neck as they buried themself.

"I don't know how you do it..." They whimpered. "I don't know how you got so cool."

"NEH HEH HEH. YES, I AM THE COOLEST, BUT THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE I'VE HAD A VERY COOL BROTHER TO HELP ME ALONG." Sans could feel the magic pooling on his cheekbones, but he was tense, the fact Papyrus could compliment him when he was a lying wreck. He didn't deserve such a cool brother- "AND NOW YOU CAN BE COOL TOO, BECAUSE YOU HAVE ME!" He declared. "I WILL HELP YOU!"

"I don't deserve it..." The kid whispered brokenly.

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus announced loudly. "EVERYBODY DESERVES THE HELP. EVERYBODY CAN BE A GOOD PERSON IF THEY TRY, THOSE AROUND THEM JUST HAVE TO BE WILLING TO DO THEIR PART." Papyrus pulled away from them and looked directly into their eyes. "AND YOUR PART, IS TO JUST KEEP TRYING. AND TO DO THAT... THE FIRST STEP IS TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR MISTAKES! AND YOU HAVE! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TELL ME, BUT YOU DID. AND I STILL THINK YOU SHOULD TALK TO SANS..." The kid was looking down at their shoes...

"what? haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?"

The kid was looking down at their shoes, still wet from the slush they had walked through as Snowdin turned into Waterfall, during their journey, Sans knew that they would never have the chance to dry out until they reached Hotlands. Then they would miss the water...

But they were looking at their shoes as they stood across from Sans in his little booth.

"so... going through waterfall, huh?" Their head was up in a flash, their eyes wide in surprise. Immediately Sans knew that he had changed the routine. He should have known. The moment he had decided to avoid them he should have known he would mess it up right away. Ah well, he just had to stay dedicated to his cause. "it's a long trek." He continued. "you should probably get going then, heard undyne's been around... she's one tough fishegg to crack."

"I was... was hoping we could go to Grillby's." They said weakly, trying to keep their voice was even as possible.

"mmm.. sorta busy. two jobs ain't easy, ya know?" Their amber face was paling considerably, the panic just behind their eyes.

"D-Doesn't having two jobs give you... you twice as many breaks?" They countered. That sounded like something Sans would indeed say, but he gave an unaffected smile.

"unfortunatly... nah." He said casually. There was a storm of thoughts going on in their eyes and they looked sick.

"You were listening." They breathed. Sans tilted his head.

"listening to what?" He asked. Their expression was pained with _guilt_. He could see they were doubting that he actually had. They were considering another reason for this change. They had killed everyone last timeline after all... Seemed they were considering this another possible consequence.

"Come to Grillby's with me..." They pleaded desperately.

"sorry, kiddo... i just can't seem to tear myself away at the moment."

Their expression was hurt, and their mouth was partially open, but nothing was coming out of it, their eyes knowing they had no right to expect differently. They were looking down at their shoes... But then suddenly they were looking up again, still terrified, but a flicker of determination in their eyes. They turned around and made their way back towards Snowdin...

They came back with a bag and placed it on the ledge of his station. Opening the bag they pulled out two neatly wrapped burgers. Sans was frowning.

"um, kid..." He didn't appreciate how they were trying to force the conversation, as if that would make anything better.

"If you can't be taken away, I thought I'd treat you." They said, almost cheerfully. Nice acting, Sans had to note. They pulled out a ketchup bottle. "Grillby gave this to me to borrow." They said as they placed it between the two sandwiches. "I don't... I don't want any." They finished more nervously, no longer looking at Sans as they unwrapped their burger and began to eat. Sans eyes them for a second before beginning to unwrap his own and took the ketchup bottle.

They ate in silence, taking small bites, seeming covered over in darkness. He wondered if their stomach was turning. He wondered if that felt a lot like how his own magic was turning sickly. The kid was only halfway through their lunch when they appeared to give up on it and set it down. They were silent as Sans continued to work on his, not wanting to but wanting something to do to help avoid them.

"I know you don't want me to start... and I don't want to either, but... I think Papyrus is right. He's always right." They said softly, looking down at their half eaten food. Sans stopped and watched them seriously, an almost glare on his face. "I know you don't want me to start. but before I do... can we just... just agree to not... to not pretend that it didn't happen. Can we just agree to be open and honest about this. Even if that's... painful?" They glanced up for only a moment before they were gripping at their forearm and looking down again. "I don't think I could stand it if... If you just passed it off with a joke, if you pretended you weren't upset... If you made it seem like... like.."

There was a sense of hatred twisting inside Sans but he remained silent. The kid sighed after awhile and crossed both their arms as they leaned against the station.

"I'm sorry..." They whispered. They were cringing. They knew they had to say it out loud... "I'm sorry I killed everyone." They said quickly, painfully, cowering in on themself and not looking at Sans. "But even more than that I'm sorry that... that..." They gritted their teeth together painfully for a handful of seconds before they lifted their head and forced themself to look at him in his darkened eyes. "I'm sorry I put you through the Resets!" They cried desperately. "I didn't..."

The guilt was everywhere on their face. In their eyes, in their grimace... Their explainations died on the tip of their tongue and they let out a long breath of defeat as their eyes closed and they lowered their head again.

"I know that it seems... pointless. That I'm... I know it looks like I'm only saying sorry because I got caught out, that I only changed my mind because suddenly I realized there was consequences, and... a part of that's true. Before I didn't think there were consequences, that what I was doing wasn't hurting anyone permanently. And that doesn't..." Their voice cracked. "That can never make what I did okay, how I could... Could hurt... kill..." They covered their face with their hands, but he could tell they were trying their hardest not to cry. They were determined, but for a moment they broke. "I'm the worse possible person..!" They cried into their hands. "All I had was curiousity and I..." They forced themself to lower their hands and their desperate eyes were locked onto him again. "I'm not asking for you to forgive me, I know that you can't. I don't deserve forgiveness! I deserve to be... to be burning in hell." Their voice had cracked again, but they quickly continued, despite the blackness in Sans' gaze they had to keep talking or else they would fall apart entirely and not finish. "I did what I did and I can't take it back and I can't defend myself and say I didn't mean it! But I..." Their chest was moving up and down too quickly, there were tears starting to reach the edges of their eyes. "I never meant to make you give up. I never meant to make you feel like everything you did was pointless. That your feelings didn't mean anything! Because they do! I never meant to make you... to make you lose hope! Your... dreams..."

They had to lower their gaze at that, the tears finally escaping down their cheeks.

"Sans... If you believe nothing else... Please... Believe that when I get everyone up to the surface this time, it'll stay that way." Their teeth were clenched together painfully as they forced themself to look up one last time. "I promise." Their eyes were immediately closed, unable to look at him anymore as they dropped their head. "I promise..." Their breath shuttered, the words were weak and barely words. "I'll leave and never Reset and you can finally talk to your brother again." They cried softly. Their head dropped completely into their arms and they reseted against the station. "I'll go... I'll go and never come back.. I'll go.." They continued to whimper into their arms.

The two of them stayed like that for awhile, with them crying softly into their arms as they reseted against his booth and Sans tense in silence on the other side, his mind unfortunately thinking... They said his opinion apparently mattered. They said how he felt was worth something and how they didn't want him to pass it all off as a joke, but if he was honest, if he said what he was really feeling, they really wouldn't like what he had to say.

The kid finally lifted their face and began to wipe at their face. They took in a few deep breaths and finally they seemed almost calm, their face was firm even as they waited anxiously... They glanced up at Sans in the corner of their eyes, and he knew that the lights were still out, a soft cringe on his face. He felt stuck in place. They looked away again.

"You're allowed to be angry..." They whispered. "You're allowed to say you hate me.."

"i just..." His voice surprised him and it leveled out, he had started without really knowing where he wanted to go with it, but he just... he just... "i just can't bring myself to care." He said hollowly. They had lifted their head, now that he was talking they were forcing themself to watch him. "because if i cared... i would be having a bad time." He let out a sigh. "you wanna know what i felt when i first saw you?" He asked. Their expression widened. "unlike paps, i was scared. i was _terrified_. i felt _betrayed_. because i was certain that we had been close to being friends once and at the same time i was certain you had taken everything from me." There was emotion growing behind his voice and it was anger, low and dangerous. "and worse yet, i could still feel the hope clawing at my chest." He was just so angry! "the worse thing isn't that you took my hope, kid, its that you were the one to give it to me in the first place! and you'd just come to start the cycle back up again. so you say that we'll get to the surface, but i just can't afford to care. i can't believe you... your words are just words." There were a few tears in the kids eyes but surprisingly, they began to nod sadly, their eyes lowering as they accepted what he had to say. But their body was tense, there was determination.

"Then I'll prove it to you." They said. "I'll show you." They took a step back and they offered him a weak, guilty smile. "You're never going to have to feel betrayed by me again..."

Sans couldn't say he felt encouraged as they walked off, but...

 _If they really were friends..._

He watched them closely even as he didn't reveal himself. He watched them smile, he watched them Spare and Flee. At times he watched them look longingly at certain places and he knew that that was where he was actually supposed to be, if he hadn't been ignoring them. He watched them look at certain places with real _concern_. He watched them run for their lives from Undyne, Undyne stop and glare at his not-supposed-to-be-empty station, and the kid give her some water. He watched them hang out with his brother, with Undyne, accept Mettaton and Alphy's shenanigans. He watched them sit down at his station in Hotland and put their head down in defeat. He was certain they were asleep, or at least almost asleep when the first customer knocked on the wood beneath them.

He couldn't hear anything from where he was but he could read their lips and the surprise on their face.

 _"What?"_ The person was still talking, and Sans was smiling brightly as the human looked around the station and gave the monster and apologetic expression... but then the determination was blazing in their eyes as the monster looked dejected.

Sans watched as the kid opened up shop, the smell of hotdogs grilling filling the area and a crowd gathering.

"Hotdogs! Get your hotdogs here!" They called out.

"what about hotcats?" Sans asked casually as he leaned up against the side of the station. The kid jumped, their expression immediately horrified as they coward back. Sans didn't react. He simply kept smiling at them, as if he hadn't just scared them out of their skin, as if he hadn't been avoiding them since Waterfall.

"Only... Only for the best customers." They managed after getting a hand of themself and standing up straight.

"hmm... hit me with one, will ya?"

"Sorry, sir... but... I know from a very reliable source that you never pay your tabs." Sans' face fell in surprise but then he was smiling genuinely.

"huh. well, how 'bout just a regular 'dog?" The kid pretended to think.

"I guess." They said as the began to grab one with their tongs. He stood up and across from them expectantly. He could see the look in their eyes, an idea, their gaze went upwards, towards the top of his head. They hesitated. But then the determination was ablaze once more in their eyes. They smiled and stood up on their tippiest of toes, using the tongs to their advantage. Sans was frozen in place, staring at them.

"kid... did you seriously just put a perfectly good 'dog on my head?"

"Not just a 'dog. A headdog."They stated matter-of-factly.

"hmmm. can't argue with that logic." They smiled, for some reason Sans figured that it was also his own logic. "but i gotta say, this hotdog stand ya got going here looks pretty illegal." They looked down, and at first he thought it was in guilt but there was a mischievious grin as they took the tong and rose to their toes and put yet another 'dog on his head. "are you... trying to bribe me?" They just smiled a bit more as they placed a third on top of his head. "huh, gotta say its working." They giggled as they put on a fourth, but just barely, they were too short to continue. "consider me bought." He told them.

 _If they really were friends..._

"kid..." He started off again seriously as they lowered the tongs, as seriously as he could with four hotdogs on his head. "we weren't friends, were we?" The pain in their expression was wide. "we were going to be more than that..." He asked more softly, the lights in his eyes falling away. "you were going to be our family... you can't act like how you've been acting with everyone.. and not make them care about you." The dread was tense between the two of them. "how? how could you kill them?" He wasn't trying to be mean, but he wanted to know, he really needed to know. The kid lowered their head and the hand holding the tong moved to rest against the station, their hand accidentally touching hot metal.

"Ah!" They dropped the tong and held their own hand as they lifted it up to their mouth, their eyes wide with surprise and panic. Panic from the pain, panic from the question.

"woah," Sans bent down, the hotdogs falling to the ground as he reached out a hand. They coward but then froze as he took their injured hand and began to look it over, pulling an ice packet out of the hotdog cooler with his other hand and holding both gently together. The kid's head was still lowered, not watching him, but their face was tight.

"I..." They spoke softly and Sans lifted his gaze off of their hands to their hidden eyes beneath their bangs. "I... Everytime I Reset, it was always the same... Everyone started to stop.. feeling like people. I got... bored." Their grimace deepened. "That's not an excuse..." They whispered. "That's just how horrible I am."

"..." Sans watched them, thinking... "you told papyrus that you only stopped because of me."

"I knew you'd given up," they cried softly, "but I hadn't know... just how much.. Or that it was my fault. I'm sorry." Sans looked down at their burnt hand and shifted the ice pack so the colder side was on it again. "I'm so sorry..." They whispered. "I'm so, so sorry..." They shook their head briefly. "I didn't mean..."

"kid... why did you reset? that first time we were on the surface, why did you reset?" They were silent, tense, knowing they had to answer but not wanting to, Sans jumped in before they could come up with something. "kid, you said that when we got to the surface that you would leave..." He continued. He eyed them sadly. "would you even have anywhere to go if you did?"

They were sniffling as they finally nodded.

"but its not somewhere you want to go back to."

They were crying as the shook their head.

"is that why you climbed the mountain to begin with?" He whispered. The kid was sobbing with their head still down. He squeezed their hand gently. "kid..." They continued to cry and Sans sighed a bit. "kid, look..." They forced their head upwards and Sans made sure the lights in his eyes were present, that he was giving them an honest expression. "papyrus was right about me too," He began, "it's not completely your fault i'm a mess, that's just the way it is."

"I didn't help." They whimpered. Sans let out a weak chuckle.

"no, you hadn't helped." He admitted. "but i didn't help you either." Their face fell in surprise but then they shook their head as it fell again.

"I don't deserve it."

"no, you don't. but you once did. i can't forgive you for what you did last timeline, but i realize that you did stop in the end, and you've been trying to do better. so kid, if you really, _really_ meant what you said, if you really don't reset, i'm willing to help anyways." Sans sighed and was now the one to look down. "i can at least forgive you the resets."

He felt them move, uncertain and surprised.

"and you don't have to leave." He said. "if you don't want to go back to wherever, nobody is going to make you. i won't let 'em."

Their hurt hand grabbed his and squeezed tightly and when Sans looked up they were giving him a watery smile, tears still drifting down their cheeks but so happy. He could tell if it weren't for the station in their way they would be hugging him... He was thankful for the station...

He wasn't ready for that...

"Papyrus was right." They said, their breath shuttering as they began, still recovering from sobbing. Sans lifted an eyebrow and they were blushing. "He really is just as cool as his brother." Sans' eyes widened in surprise but then he let out a small chuckle as he looked down at their hands.

 _If they really were friends..._

"i believe you can do the right thing."


End file.
